With US fiscal dysfunction and the threat of default likely to persist, the Peterson Institute held a panel discussion on October 23, 2013, to understand what is at stake.

Anna Gelpern, PIIE senior fellow and professor at Georgetown Law School, presented a legal perspective on the uniqueness of US Treasuries and of US constitutional constraints. Franklin Allen, professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, discussed the likely prioritization of US federal spending in a short-run emergency versus the long-run need for balance. David J. Stockton, senior fellow at PIIE and Macroeconomic Advisers, provided an assessment of the impact of uncertainty in the US Treasuries market on the American and world economies. Angel Ubide, PIIE senior fellow and co-director of global economics at D.E. Shaw Group, presented an analysis of the likely market effect over the short-term and longer-horizon of US fiscal uncertainty. C. Fred Bergsten, senior fellow and director emeritus at PIIE, chaired the event.